This Actress’s GA Hollywood Plan Inspired ‘Schitt's Creek’
This Actress’s Failed GA Hollywood Plan Inspired ‘Schitt’s Creek’
Before “Schitt’s Creek” became a cult comedy hit, there was Braselton, Georgia—a small Southern town that Oscar-winning actress Kim Basinger once bought with dreams of turning it into the next Hollywood. Yes, she bought the town. Things just didn’t go according to plan. Read more about Basinger’s failed Georgia Hollywood plan inside.
In 1989, fresh off a wave of stardom and blockbuster films, Basinger and a group of investors paid $20 million for approximately 1,700 acres of Braselton, about an hour northeast of Atlanta. At the time, the move stunned Hollywood and confused much of the country. Why would a movie star buy a small town in rural Georgia?
For Basinger, the vision was seamless. She wanted to transform Braselton into a bustling film hub and tourist destination, complete with movie studios, a film festival, and a cultural scene to rival anything in California. It was an ambitious plan that aimed to bring jobs, infrastructure, and glamour to the quiet town. It wasn’t entirely far-fetched. Georgia would go on to become a major filming location decades later. But for Basinger, timing was everything, and her gamble came too soon.
After a string of financial setbacks, including a highly publicized lawsuit over her decision to pull out of the film Boxing Helena, Basinger filed for bankruptcy in 1993. The fallout forced her to sell off the town for about $1 million—a fraction of the original price. Locals reportedly felt misled, and the dream of “Hollywood South” fizzled out.
Though the purchase was a real-life cautionary tale, it would eventually serve as the inspiration for Schitt’s Creek, the Emmy-winning series co-created by Eugene and Dan Levy. The show follows a wealthy family who lose everything and are forced to live in a small town they once bought as a joke. Sound familiar?
Today, Braselton thrives in a different way—more of a charming Southern escape than a movie-making mecca—but the memory of Basinger’s bold bet still lingers in pop culture lore.
Kim Basinger may not have turned Braselton into Georgia’s Tinseltown, but her real estate misadventure will always have a place in Hollywood history—and in the fictional town of Schitt’s Creek, where dreams, disasters, and reinvention collide.
